# Theists: if you had to guess, what would you say your God(dess) does with atheists post-death? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554 "2011-04-07T18:16:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554/41 "2011-04-13T15:29:34Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > My beliefs aren’t covered under any of the options, so I had to vote for something else. The thing is, I don’t view our souls as being entirely separate, and while I’m still pondering over exactly how inter-related we are, I do think that it tends to both make an afterlife and reincarnation, as most people would see them, not really make sense. > > I tend to view our souls as part of a collective, that humanity is more of a single larger entity than a bunch of individual ones. My current view is that our lives are like a bunch of little samples of that, going through life and learning and experiencing things, such that our individuality is simply an illusion, and so carrying on that individuality in any sort of existence after our lives doesn’t make sense. It’s sort of like taking a glass, dipping it in the ocean, and then purifying it before pouring it back in; depending on the perspective, that “soul” is simultaneously living an afterlife, being reincarnated, and ceasing to exist. > > I also don’t think this sort of process affects theists or atheists in any meaningfully different way relevant to the OP. This, pretty much. I think we’re all parts of one collective, and may choose to incarnate again or not, dissipate our individuality or not, as we wish when we’re not alive. So maybe an atheist would chose to reincarnate, or maybe they’d go back to the Oneness, just like anyone else. I think most of us get bored in all that bliss and miss having bodies and individual personalities and experiences, so we do choose to come back to the corporal realm sooner or later. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554/42 "2011-04-13T15:31:38Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I tend to think that God would be understanding of those who don’t believe in him- it seems kind of petty to think that the presence or absence of a certain type of belief is a prerequisite for the afterlife. I don’t think God draws distinctions between atheists, Muslims, animists, etc… in terms of their beliefs. I don’t think we’re required to believe a certain way, and not believing is grounds for punishment. > > Rather, I think that we’re all expected to behave a certain way. The evangelicals’ insistence that “you can only be saved if you accept Christ, etc…” is a sort of shorthand for saying that if you truly do that, you’ll more or less act the right way by default, because truly accepting would imply that you get it. I really don’t think most evangelicals would agree. And certainly Pentecostals wouldn’t. They’re all about believing the exact right thing. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554/43 "2011-04-13T16:22:00Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I really don’t think most evangelicals would agree. And certainly Pentecostals wouldn’t. They’re all about believing the exact right thing. I’m not evangelical or pentecostal! What I was trying to say is that despite the fact that the bible verses they’re paraphrasing literally say that, they really are a sort of shorthand for doing things the right way. In other words, they’re both taking it too literally and are misinterpreting it as well. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554/44 "2011-04-13T16:37:04Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I’m not evangelical or pentecostal! What I was trying to say is that despite the fact that the bible verses they’re paraphrasing literally say that, they really are a sort of shorthand for doing things the right way. > > In other words, they’re both taking it too literally and are misinterpreting it as well. I won’t address the issue of misinterpreting the Bible because that’ll get us into an atheist-versus-believer thing. I will say this: I know quite a number of Pentecostal Christians (I grew up in such a church) and not a few evangelicals as well, and in my experience they do hold that one must adhere in one’s heart to a specific dogma or be destined to hell. They make no bones about it. Unless you’ve said, _“I believe Jesus Christ was the Son of God, conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin Mary, and that he was literally God in human form, and thus was sinless in word, thought, and deed throughout his life; that he died to atone for the sins of mankind, who otherwise are all both doomed to and deserving of eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire; and I ask him to forgive me my sins and I accept him as my personal savior”_ you are going to burn in a physical Hell for eternity, even if you died at the age of 6 and never really understood any of those things. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554/45 "2011-04-13T19:05:59Z")
I wholeheartedly believe that a lot of “Christians” will be deeply dismayed to discover that they weren’t G-d’s favorites after all. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554/46 "2011-04-13T19:08:23Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I won’t address the issue of misinterpreting the Bible because that’ll get us into an atheist-versus-believer thing. I will say this: I know quite a number of Pentecostal Christians (I grew up in such a church) and not a few evangelicals as well, and in my experience they do hold that one must adhere in one’s heart to a specific dogma or be destined to hell. They make no bones about it. Unless you’ve said, > > _“I believe Jesus Christ was the Son of God, conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin Mary, and that he was literally God in human form, and thus was sinless in word, thought, and deed throughout his life; that he died to atone for the sins of mankind, who otherwise are all both doomed to and deserving of eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire; and I ask him to forgive me my sins and I accept him as my personal savior”_ > > you are going to burn in a physical Hell for eternity, even if you died at the age of 6 and never really understood any of those things. I know… I just meant that the more literal and strident Christian denominations tend to take that stuff so literally that it’s kind of ridiculous, and that I (me, not them) think that it’s a much more figurative sort of exhortation- accept Christ, and by doing so, you’re doing the kinds of things and believing the kinds of things that God wants you to. I mean, I can buy the Trinity, and I can buy the whole remission of sins stuff, but where I diverge is in the treatment of non-believers of all stripes. I’m much more in line with the concept of the[Anonymous Christian.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_Christian) than thinking that saying and believing a particular passage means anything in particular. ---
**Author:** ![SSgtBaloo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@SSgtBaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSgtBaloo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554/47 "2011-04-13T20:25:27Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I mean, I can buy the Trinity, and I can buy the whole remission of sins stuff, but where I diverge is in the treatment of non-believers of all stripes. I’m much more in line with the concept of the[Anonymous Christian.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_Christian) than thinking that saying and believing a particular passage means anything in particular. Ya, me too. I believe G-d leaves a way open for people to enter heaven even though they might actively disagree with what people say about him, especially if they hear something that isn’t true presented as the truth. I have some relatives who believe otherwise, among whom is a (now-deceased) Baptist minister who felt that unless you were a Baptist, you were somehow against G-d. You might be saved and not a Baptist, but it was very unlikely. My own theory is, that to him,the Baptist Church _was_ G-d. ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554/48 "2011-04-13T23:36:01Z")
I believe in God, but not an afterlife. I think when you die _poof_ it’s over, like a light switch turning off. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554/49 "2011-04-14T00:55:09Z")
The FSM touches all with his noodly appendage. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554/50 "2011-04-14T04:57:24Z")
Though I’m a theist, I’m unconvinced that there’s an afterlife. In any case, I’m fairly sure that everyone goes to the same place, whether that’s an afterlife or a simple “lights out.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theists-if-you-had-to-guess-what-would-you-say-your-god-dess-does-with-atheists-post-death/577554.md?page=2)